Tag Archive for: treasurer test

Treasurer Test development: huge investment, great result!

| 03-10-2018 | by treasuryXL |

It all started a few years ago. The desire to better assess corporate treasurers led to a group of us wanting to build a test that did not exist yet. Together with various experts we invested time, money and expertise.

First, a project team was put together and Merel van Geel was appointed project leader. Other team members have a background in education, science, corporate treasury, assessment psychology, IT and treasury recruitment. Quite a diverse group! The goal of this project group was to investigate whether the concept could lead to a feasible business plan.

We quickly found that the cost of the software and its customization plays a vital role in this plan. The software should be able to test both personality as well as treasury knowledge, be able to work with various peer groups, include sound statistical research methods and generate reports. It should have a client friendly interface. In a few months, many systems were tested and demos have been viewed. After long consideration and negotiations, a software manufacturer was chosen that already developed tests and could be integrated into our treasuryXL existing software. This manufacturer has many universities and other research institutes as their client.

In parallel various personality models were considered. As the Big Five model is widely accepted, well known and, different from many others, accepted in academic circles, that is the model we chose. The Big Five assessment that is integrated in the Treasurer Test is offered by other parties separately and integrated in our solution. In other blogs we will elaborate on the model.

A team of experts from the Hogeschool Utrecht and the Vrije Universiteit took it upon them to develop a library of questions in various treasury sub categories and complexity level. The Test holds a lot more questions than the average candidate will answer.

Integration of various components was led by Merel and the results were screened by an advisory board that, together with a group of close friends were the first ones to do the Test for the first time. In parallel, we started to expand the treasuryXL website so that the test could be integrated and you can place and pay your order. Components such as a logo and a GDPR privacy statement were developed. Finally, the report of the Treasurer Test was designed, developed from the various above described components..

At this moment we are further testing the results. A selection of testee candidates has been made to fill the peer groups which are essential in the concept of the Treasurer Test. After the test has been made by these persons and feedback has been processed, the test will become available. We are very excited about this and will keep you up-to-date!

Roy Baaten – Community Manager at TreasuryXL

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What is this Treasurer Test that we will launch shortly?

| 20-09-2018 | by treasuryXL |

The Treasurer Test is mainly created to give treasurers, their current and future employers and recruiters insight into the skills and personality of the treasurer. To achieve the foregoing, the test consists of two main parts.

Treasury technical knowledge

In this section the treasury knowledge level of the testee is tested. The questions in this section are developed by De Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and The University of Applied Sciences of Utrecht in cooperation with industry experts. The four categories tested are Cash Management, Corporate Finance, Risk Management and Treasury Miscellaneous. There is limited time available for each category. The questions get increasingly more complex: the first question is easier than the last one. Harder questions are rewarded higher than easy ones. The results are reported in absolutes (like a GPA), but will also be compared with a peer group that has about the same experience. As a hiring manager you can compare your potential employee with other candidates in the labour market.

Personality Profile

Twelve personality traits are tested in the personality part of the test. We have chosen for the Big5 model, in a later blog we will explain why. The outcome is compared with the general population and with the treasury population. We do this under the assumption that the personality of an average treasurer is different from a member of the general population. For example, the treasury testee might not be good at making contact in comparison with the general population, but at the same time be better at this than other treasurers.

As mentioned earlier, the test gives an insight into the skills and personality of the treasurer testee which can be used to decide whether he or she fits the position. The test can also give an indication whether the testee fits the company culture and if there are areas where the treasurer needs training or development.

We are currently testing the product, fill the benchmark and keep you posted about the progress of the test in the next weeks.

Roy Baaten – Community Manager at TreasuryXL

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Testing Treasurers for Integrity

| 06-09-2018 | by  Pieter de Kiewit |

Last month Dutch newspapers published about two convictions that made me further think about the combination of treasurers and integrity. In the Vestia case, derivatives fraud within the largest social housing corporation of The Netherlands, the treasurer and broker were sentenced to time in jail. With ABN Amro, staff was being let go for falsifying signatures in mortgage documentation. The severity of the two cases is very different, but integrity of staff was relevant. Could these cases have been prevented? 

In the development of the Treasuer Test (https://www.treasurersearch.com/blogs/3/s66ebd-getting-ready-to-launch-the-treasurer-test!), one of the most asked features is an integrity test of the testee. The development partners have scanned the market for the availability of such a test and received very mixed messages. Some parties offer questionnaires that pretend to measure this personality trait, others say it cannot be measured at all. Between these two there are service provider that do full day assessments, not just questionnaires, and claim good results. We have pondered on the subject and decided not to include this element in the test.

In recruitment we rely on past behaviour when wanting to make a statement on integrity. Reference checks and screening of documents by companies that offer private-investor-like services will bring the most solid results in my opinion. In The Netherlands one can ask for a “verklaring omtrent gedrag (VOG)” at the municipality that report about criminal behaviour. That would be proof something is not good, not proof things are good.

All in all it is a tricky subject. One thing one can be sure of: the candidate that lacks integrity will not inform you about this. Furthermore one can ask if integrity is solely in the person or that an environment can create non-integrity. Perhaps pushing for results and at the same time doing the right thing is a hard task. I would like to read about your thoughts about the subject.

 

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

Getting ready to launch the Treasurer Test!

| 07-08-2018 | by  Pieter de Kiewit | treasuryXL |

Roughly 60% or more of the hiring managers we work with does not have experience in corporate treasury. Less than 20% of people working in corporate treasury received extensive professional treasury education. The rest did not. How can we measure whether a candidate has the knowledge to be able to do the job? Currently this is done, also by us, by looking at their experience: screening CV’s, checking references, etcetera. I think there is room for more thorough measuring.

After talking with many experts the idea of the Treasurer Test arose. We created a group of enthusiasts and started building. The core of the group consists of:

  • academic treasury experts of VU University (Vrije Universiteit) Amsterdam, responsible for the Register Treasurer Program, and The University of Applied Science (Hogeschool) Utrecht, organizer of the Minor Treasury Management;
  • assessment psychologists with a degree in test development;
  • IT experts using software and methodologies also used by dozens of international universities who can build an on-line assessment environment;
  • treasuryXL, their and our network of corporate treasurers as well as professional bodies.

Within a month we will start with the first test of a new and I think exciting measurement tool. It combines measurement of treasury knowledge & skills with a Big 5 personality test. The results of the treasury part of the test are presented both with absolute scores, as well as with a peer group comparison. Peer groups are formed upon experience: up to two years, three to eight and over nine. The results of the personality test are compared with a general population as well as the treasury population who already did the test. This way we can make statements like “he didn’t answer a lot of questions correctly on the topic cash management but others with less than 2 years’ experience score even worse” or “she is an introvert in comparison to general population but in comparison to other treasurers she is quite extroverted”.

We are close to asking the first peer group to do the test and expect a larger scale introduction around October 2018. treasuryXL will be the home of the Treasurer Test. I am quite excited about this project and think it can all help us in making career / recruitment decisions, choose proper education and shape treasury teams. There is a lot more to tell about the project, I will keep you updated and am available for questions or input.

On behalf of Team Treasurer Test,

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search